I was wondering how I could achieve my goal in running the 800m. I am a 13 year old boy, and my current best time running the 800m is 2:42. My goal for next year's track season is to be running a time consistently under 2:30. This summer I have been running about one to three miles every other day. I am open to trying anything and I will appreciate any advice I get. Thanks for the help.

Kate O'Neil

View Profile

First off, I recommend working toward running 3 miles every other day. After you reach that goal, try to lengthen the runs to 4 miles. Eventually, you should work toward running 2 out of 3 days. This takes time so be patient. You don't want to increase too quickly. Give yourself a few week to adjust to each jump before adding anything. It's great that you are asking questions about this now since you have many months until the start of the track season. You can give yourself the time you need to work toward higher mileage. Even though your race is much shorter, the strength that you will gain from running longer will allow you to do more in workouts during the track season. At the end of your runs, do some strides. Try running at a faster pace for 15 - 20 seconds. Do this 4 - 6 times. If you want to chart your progress, try running some 200s at the track at the end of a run and looking at your times compare. When the track season rolls around, you will be feel stronger from the longer runs and your legs will still have a lot of turnover from the strides.